Heart of the Matter
by Eschra
Summary: Follows on a couple of months after the Season Eight ender. Life is moving on, but the stress of the past is still there. Can Harm's friends get to the Heart of the Matter.
1. Author Intro

Hi everyone,

This is my first time posting an original fiction story online, and my first time posting a JAG fan fiction. I have been away from writing for a long time. At the moment I have online written part of the first chapter and thought I would post it to get some reactions from the readers. As an English JAG fan I am also limited by the fact I don't get to start watching the Eighth Season as from July 14th 2003 over here. So I am reliant on gossip, transcripts, plot spoilers and mail discussion lists, for facts et al. If you see any inaccuracies or are good at estimating season timelines of major happenings on a monthly scale all info and corrections are grateful received as are suggestions et al. People to contact to clarify details are very grateful welcome – contact me. Although I have a specific destination for the story, the plot points have a life all of their own, as do the characters'.

As usual the typical disclaimers apply. The characters, series, and locations do not belong to me. They belong to David P. Belisarius et al. I am only playing with them for a while. I will put them away tidily when I am finished. Suing me will be pointless, although you can happily have my student debts if you persist LOL! Medical details later in the stories are gleaned from medical sources, plus the fact my mother (was) and best friend are nurses. 

Any use of songs, programmes, quotations etc. belong to the relevant owners. I own nothing except the story. When it gets finished I don't mind it being posted elsewhere but contact me, and I can send you the original or I myself, will happily post them where you'd like to see 'em. 


	2. Chapter One

Chapter One

// Dream Sequence //

0342 ZULU

HARM'S APARTMENT

NORTH OF UNION STATION

Harm awoke with a hoarse exclamation. As he lay staring blankly up at the darkened ceiling, he willed his heart to slow its frantic pounding. Taking a ragged breath, he pushed the now sweat-soaked sheets away from where they had tangled themselves around his legs as he slept, and dropped his feet to the floor. Shakily he heaved his frame off the bed, stumbling across the room toward the bathroom, the basin, and the cold water he sought. The need to splash cold water over his fevered face was foremost in his mind, as was the desire to wash away the painfully fresh and vivid images of the recurrent nightmare from his mind. As he roughly dried his face, he glanced in the mirror. His face stared back at him. He looked tired, haggard and for the first time in a long time he realised, he looked old. Sighing, he pushed himself away from the mirror and padded his way toward the kitchen and the coffee pot. He wouldn't be getting anymore sleep tonight.

0815 ZULU

JAG HEADQUARTERS

FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA

As the elevator doors pinged open, Colonel Sarah 'Mac' Mackenzie straightened up from where she had been leaning against the elevator wall, balancing the large stack of files she had dragged home with her the night before, in a desperate attempt to try to make some head way into the huge number of cases awaiting her attention. 

Striding across the bullpen, she noted the fact that, as often happened, she was one of the first in the office this early. As she crossed to her office, she noted with curiosity that the blinds to Commander Harmon 'Harm' Rabb's office were open, but despite the fact that they had been firmly closed when she left the night before, there was no sign of the Commander, her partner and best friend, not really surprising at this hour in the morning. Sufficed to say, the Commander was not known in the office for his punctuality or time keeping except in the occasional case of early morning staff meetings or client interviews. Even then, the Commander had been known to arrive a couple of minutes late pleading leniency due to traffic or parking difficulties, an occurrence that had become something of an office joke, even with their normally stern but fair Admiral Chegwidden, the Judge Advocate General. 

Dropping the files and briefcase non to gently onto her desk, Mac decided to go and fix an extra strong pot of coffee before she even thought about diving back into where she had left off her latest case at 0100 that morning. 

Following her infrequent appointment to the military judiciary, and then her investigation into the possible guilt of Commander Rabb for the murder of the pregnant ex-JAG lawyer Lieutenant Lauren Singer, a couple of months ago, an out-of-the-blue recruitment for an undercover CIA assignment by Clayton Webb had seemed like an opportunity for a temporary change of pace. Besides which, she had felt at the time that they all owed Webb. Following his assistance in the Angelshark case, Harm and Sturgis had been investigated, which had led to his previous assignment to South America, her assistance to assure the success of the mission and restore Webb's favour with his superior's had seemed the least she could do. The assignment had nearly ended in tears, when the assignment was blown, saved only by the timely rescue of herself and Webb, by JAG's ex-marine Gunnery Sergeant Victor Galindez, currently working with Webb for the CIA, and Harm. Although their subsequent completion of the mission, and the physical recovery of all involved hadn't been exactly straightforward, she had looked forward to returning to the familiar pace of being Chief of Staff in the Jag offices. 

When she had returned, however, she had found the JAG offices in a state of pandemonium and chaos. With a return to her normal duties came the inevitable and enormous disarray of cases that had built up in the JAG office due to the absence of two of its best and most senior officers. Which left her now snowed under a pile of caseloads enough to keep her busy till Independence Day. 

She strode out of her office and toward the break room, allowing herself, as she did, the pleasure of enjoying the blissful silence of the otherwise normally bustling and industrious office that comprised of the JAG corp. And it was at this early hour that she was startled to find the broad frame of her tall, often tardy partner, hunched over the coffee pot as he set it to make the first pot of the day. So surprised was she at seeing him, and otherwise occupied by thoughts of her caseload, that she failed to notice the dejected slump of his shoulders as she walked up behind him.

"Hey flyboy, hope your not making up a pot of that weak excuse for coffee, you squids seem to like, this early in the morning." Surprised he whirled round, straightening up sharply as he did.

"Mac, hey! You nearly startled the living daylights out of me. It's a little early to go around sneaking up on people and giving them a fright like that, isn't it?" He said, trying to give her a reproachful look, failing, and instead offering her a grin that didn't quite reach his eyes.

" Marine's don't creep. We advance with caution, and I forgot that squids like a little warning before an ambush." She shot back, purposely teasing him in the hope of making him to rise to her bait. Chuckling he replied,

"Much as I'd love to continue this debate Counsel, this squid know better than to stand between an overworked jarhead and her first coffee of the morning."

"Sensible precaution Commander", she replied giving him a glorious smile as she squeezed past him and proceeded to add more coffee to the pot. Shaking his head as she did, he picked up his cup and moved out of her way.

"Morning Commander, Colonel" came the bright tones of Lieutenant Harriet Sims as she moved into the room.

"Morning Harriet." Came the replies as the diminutive woman walked across to the small refrigerator.

"How are the legs this morning, Harriet?" asked the Commander as she leaned her heavily pregnant frame against the counter whilst opening a small bottle of water, and then having grabbed a small glass, proceeded to pour herself a drink whilst looking, he thought, enviously at the pot of coffee.


End file.
